Innocent Blood
by Ember LeClaire
Summary: When Rayne discovers a lone girl during a mission, she takes the child in and trains her as a partner of sorts. When Jessi, the child Rayne found, comes of age, she ventures out on her own and uncovers an insidious scheme that may threaten the human race.
1. Found

The screams of the men being slaughtered could be heard throughout the silent night; their cries gurgled and in vain. Though there calls for help were many and loud, there was no one around for miles to hear them.

One man panted as he ran from his attacker, his clothes and face covered in the blood from his own wounds as well as the spattered blood from those whom had been slain near him. His legs felt weak beneath him as they carried him farther and farther from the site of the massacre, he knew that soon they would give out and leave him with no way to escape, and then his attacker would soon come to finish him off like the vermin he was.

No sooner had those thoughts passed through his mind did he feel his legs begin to wobble beneath him and the then ground was rushing up to meet him. He collided roughly with the stone floor of the hallway which he had run down in an attempt to make an escape. He groaned quietly at the pain and rolled over onto his back so that he was facing the low ceiling. A few moments of silence passed, which meant that the killings in the other rooms had come to an end. For a few brief seconds this gave him hope that the murderer had left, but then he heard the echoing footsteps coming from just down the hall. He sucked in a quick breath and groaned again, knowing that he was done for. It was foolish for him to have imagined that he may have escaped.

He waited silently as his soon to be killer took her time coming down the long stretch of hall. He knew she was toying with him, purposefully making him anxious and enjoying his fear. Suddenly he heard her voice near him and shivered involuntarily as she laughed cruelly. He realized that she was now standing before him, and saw that what little light there was in the room reflect off the blades that were attached to her wrists. He tried to breathe evenly and not show his fear, but it was a useless attempt as she could sense his fear as easily as she could hear his heart pounding in his chest.

She laughed again before coming even closer so that she was now standing over him, and then proceeded to lower herself so that she was straddling his waist. She leaned forward so that her mouth was right beside his ear and whispered in a low, menacing voice, "Thought you could escape, did you?" She ran one of her fingers from his jaw down to his throat, drawing a thin line of blood. She lifted the bloodstained finger to her lips and licked his blood off. He stared up at her defiantly, determined not to show any reaction, and she sneered down at him, flashing him her fangs in the process. Without another word, she reached out and gripped his head and twisted it so that his neck snapped at being turned so fast to such an unnatural angle.

The young woman stood immediately after killing the man foolish enough to think that he could escape her. Her business wasn't done; while she had technically completed her mission that the Brimstone Society had sent her on, she still sensed life in the building, and she was determined to kill every scumbag mortal that inhabited the place.

She followed the scent of living human flesh and the sound of a heart beating and pumping sweet blood through some mortal's veins. She reached the end of the hall, which turned out to be a dead end, but upon closer inspection she was able to see what looked like a latch in the wall. She tried to open it, only to find it locked. "Figures," her voice echoed. Then an idea struck her. She turned back to the corpse lying on the floor a short distance away and started to rummage through his pockets until she found what she was looking for; a key ring.

She took the keys and approached the hidden door in the wall one again and began to try one key at a time until she found the right one. When she heard the click of the lock on the other side of the door unlocking she grinned and pulled the door open then threw the keys aside.

The passage on the opposite side of the door was dark and consisted of a spiraling staircase descending underground. She sighed and began her descent down the winding stairs, and soon noticed that the presence of life was becoming ever closer, and she licked her lips in anticipation of the sweet blood that was yet to come. After what seemed like an eternity she reached the bottom and found herself in a small room that appeared to be empty.

It was then that she heard a small whimper, and she knew that the human life she had sensed was in the room with her. She stopped and listened carefully and she could just barely hear the sound of a small heart beating, as well as the breath of the person. Their heart sounded weak, as if close to death, and this made her very curious.

"Hello?" a small voice called from the far corner of the room. The woman whipped around to face the direction the voice had come from. The voice had sounded female and very young. She heard the sound of clothes rustling and of soft steps on the floor, and then a small figure emerged from the darkness. It was that of a small girl dressed in torn clothes with wild, tangled black hair.

She was shocked. What was a child doing here? She took a few slow steps toward her so as not to scare her, and then dropped down to her knees so that she was eye level with the girl. Being a dhampir, she didn't really care much for humans, but for some strange reason she felt as if she had to help this child who had been kept in the dark for who knows how long.

"Little girl," she said slowly and put her hands on her frail shoulders, "what is your name?"

The girl was silent for a moment, her wide slate grey eyes staring at her in a frightful way, and then she answered, "Jessi."

"How old are you Jessi?"

"I'm five," she answered holding up five fingers on a small hand.

"How long have you been here?"

She was silent again, as if trying to remember how long she had been kept in the cold of what seemed to be the basement of the building. "I…I don't know," she answered quietly, as if ashamed that she couldn't give her the answer she wanted.

The woman sighed out of frustration before saying, "I'm going to get you out of here, you're safe now," she said picking the child up and ascending the stairs slowly.

She felt the Jessi's thin arms snake around her neck and hold on as if for dear life. "Lady," she heard her small voice say close to her ear, as the girl had her face buried in her neck, "what's your name?"

"Rayne," she answered just as softly.


	2. A Bloody Savior

"Jessi, I'm going to need you to keep your eyes shut, understand?" Rayne instructed the frail girl in her arms. She felt the small head buried in her neck nod once in understanding. She carried the girl farther up the winding stairs until she reached the doorway that led into the hall where the dead man lay; she listened carefully for any other sign of human life before preceding. She stepped over the corpse as she passed and walked at a brisk pace down the remainder of the hall, anxious to get the child in her arms out of the chilly building.

When Rayne reached the entrance of the building she paused to look around her and observe her work. The bodies of men littered the room; some where mangled to the point where their faces were no longer recognizable, some had their throats torn out, some were missing limbs, and some had been impaled or ripped apart with their various body parts scattered throughout the room. Blood spattered the walls and floor, as well as herself, though none of it belonged to her.

She had to admit that she felt a small wave of pride wash through her; she always got her kill, and it was rare that anyone was able to draw her blood, let alone severely injure her. The girl in her arms began to tremble, from fear or the cold, Rayne wasn't sure, but the feeling of the small body shaking against hers drew her out of her thoughts.

She made her way out of the building quickly, letting the heavy doors slam behind her. Once outside she clicked on the small communication device in her ear and said, "Severin, can you hear me?"

There was a moment where all she could hear on the other end of the line was static, and then she could faintly hear Severin's voice answer her. "Hardly," he said, "I take it you made it out alright?"

The dhampir gave a short laugh before answering, "Of course, none of those fools could touch me. How are you, did you get the information you needed?"

"I have it here in my hands," he said. "Meet you at the river?" he asked.

"Yeah, and arrange for a helicopter to pick us up," she said, hoping that he wouldn't ask why.

"Done," he said, which was a great relief to her

. She clicked off her ear piece and said to the girl in her arms, "Don't worry Jessi, I'll take you someplace safe." The girl, Jessi, looked up at her with wide, trusting grey eyes, nodded, and tightened her grip around Rayne's neck.

She spent the next half hour walking through the nearby forest until she was able to hear the sound of running water that told her she was close to the river. At some point during her trek Jessi had fallen asleep in her arms. For the moment, everything was quiet, save for the sound of the river that was drawing ever closer. She enjoyed the silence greatly, thankful for the time it gave her to put her mind at ease.

When she reached the river bank she was able to detect a lone figure standing a short distance away, and she knew immediately that it was Severin, waiting for her patiently, as always. She approached him silently, her movements quick but graceful. "Severin," she said, half in greeting and half in an attempt to let him know she was there, so as not to startle him.

"Rayne," he answered in acknowledgement, "you took longer than I would have thought. I expected you to be here before me."

"Yeah, well," she said nonchalantly, "I have a little extra weight to carry." She dropped her eyes down to the child in her arms in a silent signal for him to follow her gaze.

"A girl?" he asked, confused. "Where did you find her?"

"In the cellar of those crook's fortress," she answered, meeting the eyes of her male partner once again. "Her name is Jessi, that's all I could get out of her. She was down there alone." It looked as though Severin was about to ask another question, but decided against it when he heard the distinct sound of the helicopter approaching fast.

Soon the copter was above them, and the wind began to whip around them as the great machine descended. As soon as it touched ground the two agents sprinted towards it, and even though Rayne tried not to jostle the girl awake, she knew it was a useless attempt.

Once inside the copter, they began their ascent, glad to be leaving the sight of the mass murder behind. "Rayne," she heard Severin's voice close to her ear, just loud enough that she could hear it over the vehicle's loud engine, but still soft enough to not be overheard by the pilot. "I thought you didn't care for humans, so what makes this girl different?"

The dhampir was silent for a moment, looking down at the child in her arms who was just beginning to drift back to sleep. "She was alone," she answered just loud enough for him to hear. "I know what it's like to be alone…," she trailed off, absentmindedly stroking Jessi's dirty hair.


	3. Conditions?

**Disclaimer: I do not own BloodRayne or any of its characters, however, I do own my character, Jessi.**

"You know," Severin started as he hopped out of the helicopter as soon as its engines were cut, "the Commander isn't going to be too pleased with our…guest." They were back at Brimstone Society Headquarters, the place that Rayne considered the closest to home she would ever get.

The Brimstone Society was the organization that had recruited Rayne into their ranks after secretly observing her when she had been a rouge and a "potentially dangerous" dhampir, hell-bent on tracking down her poor excuse of a father, though not to reunite with him, but simply to eliminate him. She had been with Brimstone since the rise of the Nazis, and at the time bee under the training of another dhampir, Mynce.

"The commander can bite me," she replied, cradling the sleeping girl protectively. The entered the building from the roof where the copter had landed. As soon as she was within the walls of the old stone building, Rayne felt a sense of familiarity wash over her, as well as a feeling of confinement, almost as if she were bound to the organization within it. She hated the thought of it, and secretly wished for the freedom her old way of life offered her.

Shaking the unwanted feelings away, she continued to follow the lead of Severin through the twisting hallways and corridors. When they finally reached their destination, their Commander's office, they paused briefly outside the doors to gather their wits, then Severin knocked lightly on the doors. From the other side they heard a voice call, "Enter." Sighing heavily, Sevrin pushed the wooden doors open.

"Commander, we've returned from our mission," he said. It was a rule for them that whenever they returned from a mission they were to report to their Commander immediately, so this was merely simple procedure.

"Ah! Severin! Rayne! Good to see you're back, safe and sound," the older man who sat behind the large desk exclaimed at their entrance.

'It's good to be back, Sir," Severin answered, sitting down in the brown leather chair nearest to him. Rayne continued to stand, although she set the sleeping Jessi down in another one of the large leather chairs.

When the old man's bright eyes caught sight of the child, his gaze immediately darkened. "Rayne," he said in an obvious attempt to keep a hold on is temper, "what is this you've brought back?"

The dhampir seethed at her Commander's reference to Jessi as if she weren't a human being, but just as some nuisance that would be a hindrance to them. "_She_," Rayne said, emphasizing the fact that Jessi was a living, breathing human being, "is named Jessi, and she's only five years old."

"And what was the purpose in bringing her here?" he asked simply.

The dhampir looked aggravated, and it was obvious that the wrinkled man across from her was trying her patience. Sensing this, Severin quickly intervened, "Commander," he said, drawing the man's attention away from Rayne, "Rayne found the girl being held captive in the enemy's fort. We couldn't leave her, she would have died."

The elder man sighed and began to massage him temples, "And how do you know that she was a captive and not perhaps the child of one of the men you slaughtered?"

Rayne scoffed at the idea. "Just look at her," she began, motioning towards the sleeping girl, "if she was one of their spawn she wouldn't have been locked up in an underground dungeon, dressed in rags, filthy, and nearly starving. What kind of parent would mistreat their child so?"

Her Commander smirked before saying, "Well, you would know, Rayne, my dear. Though you were not starved or locked up, your father didn't exactly treat you well either."

The dhampir snarled, exposing her fangs threateningly, "Bastard," she hissed menacingly. She could feel her hands twitching with the effort it took her to refrain from leaping over the large wooden desk at him and strangling the very life out of him. It would be simple, all she had to do was jump over the desk, not a large obstacle, slam her fist into his face, mainly to knock him off balance rather than to do damage, and then run him through with one of her blades. It was a tempting thought. But no, she couldn't, not now at least. Not while Jessi slept no more than a few feet away. Forcing herself to remain as calm as she could, she said, "Regardless, I couldn't leave her there."

Both men were struck silent at the dhampir's show of self control. The Commander met her bright green eyes fearlessly and held her gaze for a moment before saying, "Alright, so we know her name and age but nothing else about her; why she was there or where she came from. What do you propose we do?"

Severin and Rayne were both stunned, neither of them had expected their stubborn superior to give in after so little argument. "Let me keep her," Rayne said suddenly. "Let me train her."

Severin's mouth nearly fell open at her statement, and their Commander looked skeptical. "Rayne," he said slowly, "do you understand what you're asking? You want to accept a child into our ranks, am I understanding you correctly?"

"No," she answered, "not a child. Just let me train her, and when she turns eighteen, if she meets our standards by then, we accept her."

Another tense moment of silence passed, making Rayne surprisingly anxious to hear his answer. "Alright," he said and closed his eyes. "I agree, but I have some conditions. The first is that while she remains here she is to be your responsibility and under your care, so not only will you be training her, you will have to raise her as well. The second is that if she does not meet our requirements when she comes of age, then she will no longer be able to remain here. And lastly, if she is made to leave, then her memories will have to be erased, she will not be allowed to hold onto her knowledge of us. Understand?"

"Yes, Commander," Rayne answered, bowing her head slightly. "I understand, thank you." With those words she scooped the sleeping Jessi into her arms and left the office. She made her way through the winding hallways of the building, when she reached her quarters she set the girl down on the small twin sized bed in her room, and then sat herself in the small leather chair on the opposite side of the room, contemplating on how she was to go about the business of raising and training the child.

**Author's Note: Well? What do you think? Not quite what I originally intended, but I ike it none the less.**

**I want to thank the few people who took the time to review, there may have only been a small handfull of you, but it was enough to make me want to write this chapter. I love reviews, though you may not think so but they do inspire writers to continue with their story. I want to hear what you liked, what you disliked, ideas or something you ma want to see, as well as your constructive critisism. =]**

**So, if you want the next chapter, let's aim for...lets say three reviews. It's not that hard, it only takes thirty seconds. If you're one of those people who thinks 'I won't review, she'll get her three from other people' then you may be what's holding everything back, because so many others think that way that not many people end up reviewing. So if you want it, then you have to review for it.**


	4. A Bad Start

**Disclaimer: I do not own BloodRayne or any of it's characters. I do, however, own my character, Jessi.**

* * *

Night; Rayne's emerald eyes fluttered open as soon as the blazing Sun had set. She sat up slowly, her muscles stiff from sleeping in the arm chair. She stretched and yawned widely, exposing her curved, deadly fangs.

Almost immediately she noted that she had fallen asleep in her tight red and black leather outfit, now covered with dry blood from the night before and smelling of death to her sensitive dhampir senses, as well as that she had left the light on while she had slept. Glancing across the room, she saw the reason why she had ended up sleeping in the chair rather than in her bed; Jessi. She didn't immediately stand, but instead remained where she was and listened carefully to the girl's breathing; slow and even, signaling that she was still slumbering. Carefully, Rayne raised herself from the chair and approached the bed slowly so as not to make any loud noises. Staring down at the sleeping child, she began to ponder why the girl hadn't been simply terrified of her when she had found her alone in the dark cellar. Was it possible she was desensitized to gore and violence? No, that couldn't be it.

Had she even seen her in the dark? Doubtful. While her own night-vision was superior, she was able to see Jessi clearly; it wasn't likely that she had been able to see who her savior was. And after they had ascended to the ground level of the building, she had told to the child to keep her eyes shut, and after that she had fallen asleep, so she hadn't even laid eyes on her yet! The realization made something in Rayne's gut tighten, and she brushed it off as anxiety and nothing more.

Taking a deep breath, she prepared herself for the worst, and gently shook the child to wake her. She watched as her eyes slowly opened, revealing their ashy grey color to her. Those orbs still glassy with sleep looked at her, though didn't really seem to see her, as if she were blind; but then suddenly the mist that seemed to cloud her eyes cleared, and suddenly Jessi flung herself away from Rayne, fear and confusion in her eyes.

"Jessi," Rayne said, softly but in a confidant manner. "Do you remember who I am?"

The child continued to scoot herself back in an attempt to put distance between her and the frightening woman speaking to her. When she felt he back hit the wall behind her, she let out a small gasp as she realized she had run out of room. She glanced around quickly, observing the room and searching for a way out. To her left was a door, and she lunged for it, tripping in her haste and falling to the floor in a mess of limbs and rags. Quickly recovering, she scrambled up and over to the door, yanking on it with as much strength as she could muster, which wasn't much, considering she was only a five-year-old human child. When the door didn't give she let out a frantic wail and sunk to the floor.

The dhampir had watched all this happen with fascination and only a mild amount of surprise. Honestly, she hadn't expected her to react well, after all, she hadn't come out of the best situation as far as they knew, and on top of that the girl had no idea what was in store for her here, she had a right to be scared.

Rayne sighed and rose from her kneeling position, "Jessi," she said, taking a step forward, "you need to calm down, if you don't you may hurt yourself." She watched nonchalantly as the child silenced herself and seemed to calm down, but was startled when she the child's slate-grey eyes met her own; they were full of hatred and disgust, as well as barely concealed fear.

"Monster," the child hissed. "Demon." Suddenly, Rayne felt a jolt of pain shoot through her, and she dropped, kneeling on one knee, her hands clenched into tight fists. As quickly as it had come, the pain was gone, and as she checked herself for wounds, she realized that the source of her discomfort had not been a physical injury, as she had none. Amazed, she met Jessi's eyes again, and found the girl to be smirking in such a way that it unnerved her greatly. Since when do five-year-old girls smirk so…evilly? Rayne snarled, baring her fangs at what she had thought was an innocent child, and she cursed herself for letting her guard down.

Jessi laughed; a sound that seemed too cruel to be coming out of a child's mouth. Rayne hissed as another wave of pain washed over her, and pushing past the agony, she lunged at the child, pinning her to the floor below. Quickly and efficiently, she found the pressure points located on every person's neck and squeezed, rendering the girl unconscious. As soon as she was certain that the child wouldn't be waking soon, she lifted her once again, noticing how underweight she seemed to be, and set her back on the bed.

She wondered what she was to do now. Jessi had had a bad reaction to her, which had been expected, but what she didn't understand was why she had said the things she did, or what caused the waves of pain that she experienced. She sat and contemplated a moment more before coming to a decision. Grabbing the only key to her room, she stepped into the hall, and locking the door behind her, set off in search of her partner.

* * *

Severin sighed as he set down the file that he had been examining again and again, each time coming up with nothing new. During their last mission, the one where Rayne had found Jessi, they had been split up, as usual, her taking on one task of the mission, and he the other. It was always the same; she would do the fighting and the killing that was required, and he was the one behind the scenes, informing her of what she needed to do, while also searching for vital information that was needed to complete the mission, as well as requested by the Brimstone Society.

The amount of information that they had been able to acquire about the facility they had infiltrated had been minimal. All they had learned was that many people had been seen entering the building, either willingly or unwillingly, and had never come out, and that inside the building was some kind of factory as well as a lab, but they had no idea what sorts of experiments were being conducted or what the factory was producing. The details of the scheme still evaded Severin, although he had read and reread the file many times, and soon this became frustrating.

Just as he was about to give up for the time being and turn in for the day, he heard the library door open, and turned to face the person who had disturbed his thoughts. The person standing in the doorway was Rayne, his dhampir partner, and the look on her face seemed to be troubled.

"Rayne," he greeted, turning back to the manila folder sitting on the table before him.

"Severin," she returned, pulling out the seat across from him and sitting. "Jessi has woken," she said, resting her chin in her hand. When he said nothing, Rayne ventured, 'I had to subdue her."

This caught his attention. "What? Why?" he asked, surprise and curiosity evident in his voice.

She was silent for a moment, thinking over her answer before finally voicing it, "There's something…strange about her," she paused, waiting for him to ask questions, and when he didn't, only continued to watch her closely, she continued. "I woke her up, and at first she was fine, though only for the few moments when you're disoriented after waking. As soon as she was aware of herself, she changed, drastically, I might add," she said and paused again, trying to decide how she would word her next sentence. "She tried to run, and when the door wouldn't open, she slumped to the floor, calling me a monster and a demon, and when I tried to approach her, I was knocked down by an immense pain shooting through my whole body. This happened twice."

Severin regarded her silently, taking in all the information and processing it. "You think she caused it?" he asked, his voice hushed as if someone might overhear them, though there was no one else to be seen in the massive room.

"I'm not sure, but it's possible, isn't it?"

There was a silence that loomed between them, and it caused a sinking feeling to settle in the dhampir's stomach. "Where is she now?" Severin's voice broke the almost oppressive silence.

"In my room, unconscious, the door is locked," she answered, sliding the key to him across the large oak table.

"I'll see if we can run some tests on her," he said, rising from his seat and pocketing the key. "I'll come find you if we find anything unusual."

Rayne nodded her acknowledgement. As he turned to go, she said just loudly enough for him to hear, "Be careful. If she _did_ cause whatever happened to me, then she could be dangerous." Severin nodded but didn't pause in his stride towards the large wooden doors that led out of the library, leaving Rayne alone in the room, with no one but her thoughts to accompany her.

* * *

_Author's Note: Alright, here's the next chapter. Sorry it took me so long, I just haven't really been in the mood to work on this particular chapter in the story, so it's a little shorter than I originally intended =/_

_So, hopefully this starts to answer some questions that I recieved in reviews, though there is more explaining to do in the next chapter, which I already have some of planned out._

_Well, let me know what you think. And since most people are too lazy to review, let me put it this way; no reviews, **no** update._

_So since know you're there, being as I know how to use the visitors/hits chart I'll know if someone reads and chooses not to review by the numbers in those charts and the number of reviews I recieve._

_And thank you to those who took the time to review the last chapter, I appriciate it =]_


	5. Results

**Disclaimer: I do not own BloodRayne or any of it's characters. I do, however, own my character, Jessi.**

* * *

The fiery-haired dhampir sat alone in the silent library where Severin had left her hours ago, contemplating the possibilities on what would be the results from the tests that were being run on Jesssi. Several scenarios ran through her head; the first being that she simply wasn't human, but the major flaw in that notion was that she _had_ to be human. When Rayne had first encountered her she had smelled like a human, nothing about her scent had seemed off except the fact that she probably hadn't been bathed in days and stank of a foul odor.

The second option that she had considered was that perhaps Jessi was some kind of half-breed like herself, though of what kind she hadn't the faintest idea, and that maybe since she was so young the supernatural part of her blood had not yet awakened, though she still should have been able to smell it anyhow.

The third idea was that she was possibly going insane. Maybe she had imagined the jolts of pain coursing through her body, though she knew for sure she _hadn't_ imagined Jessi's maniacal laughter. This was the key fact that kept the assassin from seriously considering this as an explanation to what had happened to her, though she couldn't dismiss it completely, as much as it disturbed her.

As she sat she absently tapped her nails against the wood of the table, creating the signature 'click click, click click, click click' sound of a person who was anxious or beginning to lose their patience. She happened to be both. Just as she was beginning to consider going off and finding Severin herself, or even their Commander, the library doors were thrown open.

In marched Severin, a grave look in his eyes as he approached her. "Rayne," he said rather sternly, which was a bit out of the ordinary for him. "The results for Jessi's tests are in, you need to see this. The Commander is requesting your presence in his office; now."

Rayne sighed, pushing herself up from her seat. "Where is she now?" she asked, referring to Jessi. She followed him out of the silent room and through the maze or corridors that would take them to their Commander's office.

"She has been placed in her own room," he answered rather bluntly, then at seeing his female companion's expression added, "Under surveillance, of course." When he saw that she had visibly relaxed, he let out a breath that he hadn't been aware that he was holding. He knew things were about to get a bit ugly.

While the staff in their lab had been performing a series of tests on the girl, he had sat and talked with her, rather calmly, and she seemed to be a rather interesting girl. She hadn't reacted violently to any of their doctors or scientists, or even to him, giving him the chance to try and pry some answers out of her. While he had expected the interrogation to be somewhat difficult, she had been quite cooperative. The only problem he had encountered was that she didn't know the answer to a few of his questions; like why she had been where they had found her, and what they were doing to her.

He had left her with a little more information than they had had before, which was a step closer to finding the answer, albeit a small one. Once the test results had some back, he eagerly read them, his eyes widening with every word that he read, and he knew then that Rayne had to see them for herself.

Now that he had found her, a growing feeling of anxiety had settled in his gut, and he was hoping that it would soon fade. After what seemed like an eternity, the pair reached the large wooden doors that opened to their destination. They entered silently, only opening the doors wide enough for the two of them to slip inside.

"Severin, Rayne," their Commander's voice greeted them solemnly. He was sitting in his large leather chair with his back to them.

"Commander," they both said in union, seating themselves in the chairs nearest them. The tall-backed chair spun around, revealing their Commander's grave face. His brow was furrowed, accenting the deep wrinkles of his face, and his dark eyes seemed to be fixed in a permanent glare. Wordlessly, he slid a manila folder across his desk in Rayne's direction.

She snatched it quickly, reading the label on it to be sure she knew what she was about to read. Taking a deep breath, she opened the folder and began to read through the sheets of paper inside. At the words printed on the paper she held in her hands her bright green eyes darkened as she focused more intently, wanting to be sure she hadn't misread.

_Jessi is…a psychic? _She thought, surprised. That would explain a few things. Like the pain that had coursed through her body out of seemingly nowhere. "

"You do realize, Rayne, that this changes the terms to our earlier agreement?" she heard her Commander's strained voice say.

Glancing up at him from the folder in her lap, she asked, "How so?" her voice guarded.

He considered his words before answering, "She's obviously dangerous," he started, watching the woman before him for any signs of aggression. "We can't let her loose to the outside world. Who knows what she could do?" He paused, glancing at Severin, who seemed to be rather tense. "At the moment, she doesn't have much control over her powers, but with a little training, she could become a good asset to the Brimstone Society," he said, folding his hands neatly in front of him.

Rayne watched him silently, waiting for him to continue, listening for any hints of deceit in his voice. "Obviously, she is sensitive to and can detect supernatural beings," he said, turning to the dhampir, "which is probably why she called you the things that she did," he finished.

After a moment of silence, she let out an irritable sigh. "Alright, but that doesn't explain why she reacted to me as if I was trying to kill her, or the unexpected pain that I felt."

"If I may," Severin interjected, knowing that if he allowed the Commander to answer, his words may offend the woman beside him greatly, and that was _not_ something he wanted to deal with at the moment, if at all if he could avoid it. "We're not completely sure, but we believe that she responded the way she did because perhaps she had some traumatic incident with some kind of paranormal being, perhaps a spirit. And in her state of terror, unconsciously sent off uncontrollable waves off her power at you, therefore causing the sharp pains you felt." He was silent for a moment, locking eyes with the dhampir before continuing, "Make sense?"

Rayne shrugged, her emerald eyes closing in exasperation. "Alright," she said, rising from her seat. "What should we do then?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"_You_," their commander said, "should probably stay away from her for a while, at least until we can get her calmed down enough to explain things to her."

"Fine," she answered simply, turning on her heel and exiting the office before she was excused, knowing she would be reprimanded for it later. As she made her way down the empty halls, the sound of her heels clicking against the stone floor echoing loudly, she contemplated the information she had just learned.

As she approached her room, she began to realize just how tired she was, though she hadn't done much that day. _It must be morning_, she thought, opening her door and closing it behind her, making sure to lock it. Finally changing out of her bloodied suit and discarding her blades, she crawled into bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

* * *

_Author's Note: Alright, so this chapter was a bit short, and nnot exactly my best work =/ so I apologize for that._

_Anyway, what did you think? Review and let me know. I also welcome constructive critisism and any ideas you may have._


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